Fishing Rod

The Fishing Rod is a tool used to catch fish. You can either buy one from Haldor the trader or find one by a frozen lake in the Frost Caves dungeon.

How to Get

There are two main ways to get a Fishing Rod:

• You can buy it from Haldor the NPC trader for 350 Coins
• You can find one inside the rare frozen lake room in the Frost Caves dungeons

Buying from Haldor

Haldor is an NPC trader you can find in the Black Forest biome. We have a detailed guide for how to find Haldor. But in short, you find him in the Black Forest biome, but he can’t spawn too close to your starting location in the Meadows. When you approach Haldor’s location, a white bag symbol will appear on your map.

Once you reach Haldor, interact with him and you’ll open his shop. He sells some very useful items. Among them, you’ll find the Fishing Rod, priced at 350 Coins. You can either find Coins in chests while exploring the world or as drops from certain monsters. You can also sell Haldor your precious gems like Amber and Rubies to get more Coins.

Even if you decide that 350 Coins for a Fishing Rod is too expensive and choose to instead go look for a free one, you should purchase some of the Fishing Bait Haldor is selling. You get 20 for 10 Coins, and you’ll need a lot of it once you actually get down to fishing.

Finding Inside Frost Caves

If you’re not willing to part with 350 Coins for a Fishing Rod, you can instead try to find a free one. For that, you’ll need to explore the Frost Caves dungeons in the Mountain biome. Each of these dungeons has a small chance to spawn a room with a frozen lake. The spawn is very rare, so you might be searching for that lake a while.

When you do find the right dungeon, you’ll see a crumbling staircase leading down. Descend, and you’ll find yourself in a wide-open room. You’ll be attacked by Stone Golems there, but after you deal with them, you’ll see a campfire with a skeleton and a runed stone nearby. The stone tells the story of an adventurer who came down into the cave and then couldn’t get out. By that stone, you’ll find a Fishing Rod.

With the Fishing Rod in your inventory, you’ll need to do what the skeletal adventurer wasn’t able to – go back up the same crumbling staircase. This will require some persistence and platforming, but provided you have some stamina-boosting foods, it shouldn’t be much of a challenge.

How to Fish

• Equip a Fishing Rod and have Fishing Bait in your inventory
• Cast the line by holding then releasing the left mouse button
• Reel back the line by holding the right mouse button, but watch out for stamina

When you’re ready to do some fishing, grab your Fishing Rod and some Fishing Bait that’s appropriate for the fish you’re looking to catch. Head toward the water and be on the lookout for fish swimming in it. Simply casting your rod won’t spawn catchable fish, it needs to be physically present.

Cast your rod by pressing and holding the left mouse button. The longer you hold the button, the further the line will go. Then wait for a fish to bite. When it does, your bobber will flash and you’ll get a message that a fish was hooked. Start reeling it in by holding the right mouse button. This will continuously drain your stamina, so make sure to eat some stamina-boosting foods when fishing. Eventually, you’ll get a message that you’ve caught a fish while it will go into your inventory.

How to Get Bait

In order to catch all the different kinds of fish that exist in Valheim, you’ll need a wide range of bait. You buy the basic Fishing Bait from Haldor the trader. Then, you’ll need to upgrade it at a Food Preparation Table by combining it with specific enemy trophies.

Helpful Tips

• Even though the Fishing Rod has combat-related stats like damage, we haven’t been able to use it to attack
• The Fishing Rod doesn’t have quality levels or durability, so you can use it without having to worry about upgrades or repairs
• Even though the Fishing Rod uses Fishing Bait as ammo, you don’t need to manually equip it – using the rod automatically equips Fishing Bait in your inventory. Just make sure it’s the right type for the fish you’re looking to catch